A New Beginning

As part of the President's speech in the Middle East, he discussed the role of science and technology and of entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurs:

On economic development, we will create a new corps of business volunteers to partner with counterparts in Muslim-majority countries. And I will host a Summit on Entrepreneurship this year to identify how we can deepen ties between business leaders, foundations and social entrepreneurs in the United States and Muslim communities around the world.

On science and technology, we will launch a new fund to support technological development in Muslim-majority countries, and to help transfer ideas to the marketplace so they can create jobs. We will open centers of scientific excellence in Africa, the Middle East and Southeast Asia, and appoint new Science Envoys to collaborate on programs that develop new sources of energy, create green jobs, digitize records, clean water, and grow new crops. And today I am announcing a new global effort with the Organization of the Islamic Conference to eradicate polio. And we will also expand partnerships with Muslim communities to promote child and maternal health.

Innovations had a case study of an Egyptian social entrepreneursip venture (Sekem) earlier, but in general there are not a lot of organizations that really fit this mold (see this special issue of Innovations focusing on the Middle East). Perhaps a partnership will help. We will have to follow these initiatives closely.

In case you haven't seen the speech or read the text: